Many surgical techniques require the dilation of a hollow bodily area within a patient's body to perform an ensuing medical procedure. Surgeons and veterinarians may use a rigid trocar or catheter like instrument having a distention balloon affixed thereto to dilate that bodily area. There are many prior art medical devices that are used in this capacity.
Such medical procedures that may require the use of a distention balloon include hernia operations, penile implant operations, breast augmentation and implant operations, operations to insert a cardiac pacemaker, operations to apply a neurostimulator implant, laparoscopic surgery, and almost any other operation that requires a hollow working cavity or blunt dissection of tissues.
The procedure to dilate a hollow bodily area in a patient's body includes an incision through the patient's skin, a blunt sweeping dissection of the skin tissue with either a surgical instrument or a surgeon's finger, and a "blind distention" of the desired area. This medical procedure, therefore, necessitates the application of a large dose of an anesthetic to the patient. When using the anesthetic, however, it is not always possible to determine the exact dosage to administer to a patient. Also the anesthesia, will not prevent trauma to the patient.
Different degrees of trauma can be caused by maneuvering the rigid medical device within the body. By moving the rigid medical instrument around in a patient's body, there is a strong likelihood that the patient will sustain intraoperative hemorrhaging, post-operation hematoma, and post-operation morbidity.
After the operation, the rigid medical instrument must be sterilized. The sterilization of the medical instrument requires a sterilizing chemical which may add costs to the medical fees.
An example of a medical procedure that incorporates the use of a rigid trocar having a distention balloon affixed thereto is the medical procedure to implant a multi-component inflatable penal prosthesis as described in the article from The Journal of Urology, Vol. 152, pp 142-143, July 1994, titled "Facilitated Implantation of the Inguinal Reservoir of the Multi-Component Inflatable Penile Prosthesis" by Irvin H. Hirsch, Jose Moreno and Leonard G. Gomella. This article is incorporated by reference into this description.
The prior art medical procedure for the implantation of a inguinal reservoir of the multi-component inflatable penile prosthesis as described in the article, permits a one-step creation of an adequate prevesical space. The preperitoneal distention balloon is inflated in the prevesical space to produce a compartment of adequate volume to avoid back pressure on the reservoir and minimize potential bladder injury in the setting of previous pelvic surgery.
Various techniques are used to facilitate implantation of the inguinal reservoir of the multi-component inflatable prosthesis by a penoscrotal approach. One technique requires creating a separate open inguinal incision to access the prevesical space, and blindly sweeping the prevesical fascia and fat to accommodate the reservoir. Alternatively, an inguinal reservoir inserter has been designed to facilitate insertion of the reservoir by a single penoscrotal incision. The former technique requires a separate incision and closure.
Placement of the inguinal reservoir potentially may cause bladder or blood vessel injury. Also, both of the described techniques require an uncontrolled blunt dissection to create an adequate compartment for the 100 ml reservoir.
Recent advances in facilitating extraperitoneal laparoscopic approaches by balloon dilation have been developed that may be extended to this part of the implant operation. The preperitoneal distention balloon is routinely applied to facilitate implantation of the inguinal reservoir. The implications of this technique include shortened operative time, controlled one step distention of the prevesical goal space, assurance of adequate volume for the reservoir compartment and avoidance of injury to the structure surrounding the perivesical space. Based on this favorable experience, many surgical procedures may benefit by adding finger guidance and tactile control to the radial balloon distention.